Retailer says it will find other ways to make products sparkle in effort to stem plastic waste
Waitrose has joined the crackdown on glitter by pledging to ban it from all own-brand products by 2020.
The supermarket chain said its own-label cards, wraps, crackers, tags, flowers and plants will either be glitter-free or use an environmentally friendly alternative.
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Stores selling stubby sprouts and curvy carrots in attempt to reduce festive food waste
Supermarkets have increased their efforts to reduce the national food waste mountain at Christmas by offering shoppers edible produce nearing the end of its shelf life, as well as “wonky” sprouts, carrots and parsnips.
The wonky or “ugly” lines were being offered at cheaper prices in an effort to stop the rejection or waste of fruit and veg that was misshapen, had growth cracks or was much smaller or larger than average.
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Coal, known as ‘black gold’ in Poland, has helped the country achieve energy independence. However, the high-polluting fuel has been linked to serious diseases and premature death. With COP24 climate talks under way in Katowice, pressure grows on Poland to reduce its reliance on the fossil fuel. But with 100,000 coal-dependent jobs in the country, switching to alternative sources of energy carries great economic risk. Here, Violeta Santos Moura explores the problem in her essay Dark Clouds
Can Poland wean itself off coal?
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Climate experts say the renaissance can be stopped but change must happen now – and the main obstacle is at the top
Poland’s deadly addiction to coal – in pictures
Displays of coal jewellery and coal soap, coal in a glass walkway beneath your feet, coal in the air that you breathe … the Polish hosts of this week’s UN climate talks have been anything but subtle in reminding delegates that we still live in a fossil-fuelled world despite the urgent necessity to move to a cleaner path.
The conference centre is near the mineshaft of the colliery museum in Katowice, the heartland of Silesia’s vast coal industry. The sponsors include JSW, the EU’s largest coking coal producer, and PGE, which runs the world’s second-largest fossil-fuel power plant.
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Nascent industry aims to reduce environmental impact of beef production
The first steak grown from cells in the lab and not requiring the slaughter of a cow has been produced in Israel.
The meat is not the finished article: the prototype costs $50 for a small strip, and the taste needs perfecting, according to its makers. But it is the first meat grown outside an animal that has a muscle-like texture similar to conventional meat.
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Comments by science review board chairman add weight to fears that Trump administration is aiming to discredit research to justify scrapping regulations
A conservative science adviser to the Trump administration is casting doubt on longstanding research linking fossil fuel pollution to early deaths and health problems, worrying environmental experts.
At a meeting to review air pollution science compiled by staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency this week the advisory board chairman, Tony Cox – a consultant and statistician who has worked for the industry and criticized EPA standards – questioned whether soot from coal plants and cars can be directly blamed for asthma and cardiopulmonary problems.
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Annastacia Palaszczuk says state has done all it can to prepare for severe category-four storm
Cyclone Owen will “wreak havoc” across Queensland, with remote communities braced for 280km/h winds and much of the state on flood alert, the premier has said.
Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state had done all it can to be ready for Owen, which is expected to hit as a severe category-four storm late on Friday or early on Saturday.
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Frustrated leaders appeal to ‘all OECD countries’ to phase out use as Australia signals support for new plants
Pacific countries vulnerable to climate change have urged Australia to abandon coal power generation within 12 years, and to prohibit new coal plants or expansion of existing plants.
The call from 15 small Pacific island states came one day after the Australian government called for expressions of interest in new power generation projects, indicating it would be prepared to use taxpayer money to underwrite new coal plants.
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Key sticking point at UN negotiations is how countries should account for their greenhouse gas emissions
China called on rich countries to “pay their debts” on climate change at global talks on Thursday, criticising developed countries for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance to help poor countries do the same.
The trenchant intervention by Xie Zhenhua, the minister who leads the Chinese delegation and a veteran of the UN climate negotiations, came as China faced increasing pressure to shift its stance on some of the key rules required to implement the 2015 Paris agreement.
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